Buenos Aires 2018 Youth Olympic Games: Day Two in Review

9th October 20180 comment

Team GB gymnasts qualified for four individual finals on day two of the Buenos Aires 2018 Youth Olympic Games.

Adam Tobin continued his fine start to the Games, adding a rings final to the floor and pommel the 17-year-old booked yesterday. The Devon gymnast finished in fifth with 13.300, just 0.4 off the lead, while he also registered a score of 13.700 on vault as he moves through the all-around qualifying alongside the individual apparatus.

Amelie Morgan, who qualified for the women’s floor final yesterday, will also contest the vault final on Saturday after ending qualifying in fourth with a score of 13.499.

On trampoline, both Jess Clarke and Andrew Stamp progressed to their respective finals. Clarke ended the day in seventh with 92.440 while Stamp qualified in fifth with 101.640. Both athletes will contest the medals next Monday in the men’s and women’s finals.

At the triathlon, Calum Young recorded a tenth-place finish. A strong swim saw Young come out of the water and take to his bike well within reach of the leading duo from New Zealand and Italy.

Whilst a large peloton chased, only a small number within the group, including Young, took the fight to Dylan McCullough and Alessio Crociani, which allowed the pair to stretch their lead ahead of the run.

McCollough stamped his authority on the race finishing first and the Portuguese athlete Alexandre Montez chased down Crociani to push the Italian into bronze.

“I had a good swim and a good start on the bike,” said Young. “I was in the chasing pack but not many people were working on the bikes so that was quite tough and after the exertion on the bike I found the run quite hard. I’m happy with the performance overall. If you had told me I would come tenth at the start of the year I would have grabbed the opportunity, so I can’t really complain.”

Jack Whitaker’s Team Europe qualified joint first into tomorrow’s final of the mixed international team show jumping event after a clean qualification today at Buenos Aires 2018.

Whitaker himself went clear on-board L V Chance as Europe, Australasia and North America all recorded no faults heading into tomorrow’s final.

The mixed team event sees five riders compete together as continental teams with the best three scores counting towards the team’s overall tally.

Theo Darlow and Michael Dalton recorded the fifth fastest time of the day in the rowing men’s pair heats and safely progressed through to tomorrow’s semi-final and potential final.

In a different format to most international regattas, the pair were given points for their finishing places after each of the two heats. Two second places and subsequent four points per race meant the British duo qualified sixth with their 1:36.52 in heat two, their best effort of the day behind fastest qualifiers Argentina with 1:34.52.

A second and third place for Georgina Robinson Ranger in the single sculls has the 18-year-old in 13th place ahead of tomorrow’s quarter-finals. However, Robinson Ranger’s 1:51.73 in heat two will give the Henley rower confidence heading for the knockouts as the effort was the third fastest of any sculler in the event today.

Day two saw taekwondo continue, with interest in the men’s -55kg and women’s -49kg for Team GB; Mason Yarrow and Aaliyah Powell both in action respectively. Yarrow was the second match of the day and he faced a determined and talented competitor in the form Maeda Hidetaka. The Japanese player started strongly and Yarrow struggled to get a foothold in the game, eventually succumbing 29-6.

Later in the day Powell, who was crowned World Youth Champion earlier this year, faced off against fifth seed Yeji Lee in the quarter-final of the women’s -49kg. In a close encounter the Korean took the fight to Powell, aggressively competing in the opening round. Powell came out strong in the second round bringing the scores back to 12-9, however, an assertive finish saw Lee close it out for a 21-14 victory.

Speaking after the fight, a reflective yet clearly dejected Powell said: “I was disappointed with how it went as I know I’m better than that. I knew what she was going to do but I just wasn’t good enough on the day.

“I’m only 15 and still have a lot of learning to do but also it’s a big achievement to be here in the first place. Not many people can say they’ve been to a Youth Olympic Games and to perform in front of that crowd, in front of my team mates is something to be really proud of.”

In the badminton it was another successful outing for Grace King, who followed up her opening day victory yesterday with some final set heroics to topple Yue Hooi of Singapre 21-17, 6-21 24-22. King’s 100% record means the 18-year-old from Derbyshire tops her group going into her final group match against the eighth seed Tereza Svabikova.

King’s win couldn’t be matched by teammate Chris Grimley, however, as the Scot went down 21-15, 21-13 to the seeded Schiaucheng Chen of Chinese Taipei. However, victory tomorrow versus Hungary’s Balazs Papai, who’s yet to win in Buenos Aires, should be enough for Grimley to progress to the quarter-finals.

Elsewhere, the Bello twins Javier and Joaquin won their opening beach volleyball group match, seeing off the Cuban pair 19-21, 21-12, 15-8, while Finn Hawkins is nicely placed in the windsurfing with the 15-year-old lying fifth overall after three races.

Low winds put paid to anymore action after the first race on day two with Islay Watson in 16th in the women’s event after a 13th place finish this afternoon.

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